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+1…Originally Posted by sleuth255
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My experience with the Conti DWS06 was horrible. That was several years ago though. Could not get them balanced. Multiple efforts at multiple shops. Also the sidewalls were very soft and would make the arse of the car shift in normal speed turns. Very unsettling. A set of Michelin AS3+ solved those issues.
Almost There
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^I too pay the Michelin tax to avoid any issues with out of round (OOR) and balance problems. Very happy with AS3 and AS3+ so far. Had some Conti's many years ago and had OOR issues on that set. Multiple road force balance and replacement of bad ones, etc. Road force was barely within "acceptable limits", but still caused vibrations. Real hassle. It was never 100% good. Maybe just had a bad run or whatever, but the bad taste has lingered.
Michelins seem to have the most consistent roundness. A tire can balance good, but still be OOR and cause vibrations. Our cars are very sensitive to tire roundness compared to other cars from what I've seen. I think the thrust arm bushing being so squishy and the geometry of the arms makes the system easy to oscillate when there is any OOR issues and then the vibration comes. Even with good parts in there. I now have mono balls on the thrust arms and stiffer Ground Control suspension so I bet that helps reduce the chance of vibrations due to a slight OOR as the system is overall stiffer. Maybe time to try some different rubber?
98 540i 6, 525 whp, 120 mph 1/4, V3 Si S/C'er @16 psi, W/A I/C, Water/Meth, Supersprint Headers, HJS Cats, 3" Custom Exhaust, UUC Twin Disc, Wavetrac LSD, GC Coil Overs, Monoball TA, AEM FP, Aeromotive FPR, AEM Failsafe AFR/Boost, Style 65's w/275's, M5 Steering Box, Eibach Sways, M3 Shifter, Evans Coolant, 85 Deg Stat, PWM Fan, 10" Subs, B.A. speakers, Grom Aux/BT, Still Rolling as my DD!
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With out of round tires or tires that don't balance as they should, call around and find a shop with an old fashioned tire shaver.. make sure they know how to use it. Works miracles..
A great ending is all you'll see..
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Dismembered
I’ve seen that before while mounting and balancing tires. I’ve never had any issues balancing any of the Continental tires I’ve ever had, but I did have a few times where a customers tire was some cheap pos from China, and it was whacky weird, unbalancable.
Set the controls for the heart of the sun
Almost There
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Tire shaving is an interesting angle to take for sure. When buying a set of four new tires, I don't see that method as a good solution though. The new tires should be round to start with. I always try to look at the tires as they spin up on the balancer (if the shop allows me to be there). Your eye can spot the OOR pretty easily as the tire spin speed ramps up and then when it ramps back down.
Not sure how true, but I've heard that the tire manufacturers ship the best (roundest) tires to the car manufacturers to ensure no issues on the new cars. Tire re-sellers can get the less that perfect ones. Might be BS, but I did hear this someplace.
My Conti tire issue may just have been bad luck. Lots or very satisfied customers on this board.
98 540i 6, 525 whp, 120 mph 1/4, V3 Si S/C'er @16 psi, W/A I/C, Water/Meth, Supersprint Headers, HJS Cats, 3" Custom Exhaust, UUC Twin Disc, Wavetrac LSD, GC Coil Overs, Monoball TA, AEM FP, Aeromotive FPR, AEM Failsafe AFR/Boost, Style 65's w/275's, M5 Steering Box, Eibach Sways, M3 Shifter, Evans Coolant, 85 Deg Stat, PWM Fan, 10" Subs, B.A. speakers, Grom Aux/BT, Still Rolling as my DD!
Dismembered
Could be a bunch of things. A bad batch from production, typically bad belts on cheaper tires, or maybe something stupid, like the tire tech not lubricating the bead enough, and the tire just didn’t bead equally onto the rim? Or an out of round rim? But like I said, I have had this issue myself, mounting and balancing tires for a friend on my Hunter balancer, perfectly good rims.dismounted the tires that he bought, they were those cheeseball Federal 595’s, the ones known for delaminating the threads from the carcass, just like those recaps on trucks. Mounted his old tires back on, they balanced out just fine.
Set the controls for the heart of the sun
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From what I've seen the biggest heaviest tires, especially with off-road tread patterns tend to require this the most. Often a shop with a shaver will also have a sipe cutter. I started off getting my truck tires siped when I lived in Oregon because of all the rain and it made a big difference.. and later tried it with performance car tires and wow.. worked great.
On one of the trips my son and I take picking up cars.. he bought his first sight unseen car (and probably his last), a 400k E30 318is with a straight body and not a spec of rust.. perfect for his needs. So we fly out to LOng Beach to pick it up and it has the worst out of round feel I've ever felt. Told him the tires were square. He wasn't happy with that comment, he really wanted this car. The guy told him the tires needed balanced and I interjected again "square wheels" which earned me a glare.. Well.. it was so bad we didn't make it 100 miles before pulling over to a tire shop. Two of the rims had flat spots..The tire shop said probably from some kid hitting curb.. $1200 later we had a cheap set of wheels and chinese tires and were on our way. Ah well, we had a few fun years restoring that car so it worked out.
A great ending is all you'll see..
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I 100% agree with you, I've been saying that for years. Now I'm not really a Michelin fan, I've never been wow'd by wet or dry performance and never gotten very good life out of them, but they are rounder and will reduce or eliminate the dreaded front end shimmy.
98 328is
02 525ita
80 528i
81 528ia
and decades of owning and driving BMWs
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That shimmy (especially on braking) is usually caused by bad thrust arm bushings.... BMW had to engineer both performance and ride and the result was less than perfect from a longevity perspective. Mine wore out on a regular basis before I replaced with spherical bushings. Shimmy problem solved for good, but now the ride is harder... I bet tire roundness can make the stock bushings wear out even faster too. The Michelin summer only tires (pilot super sports) have great traction and wet weather performance but are utterly useless in any kind of snow. They do wear pretty fast too. So my solution is the PSS 4S in summer and Bridgestone Blizzack WS60s on 16" Borbet wheels for winter.
Looking at my Tire Rack order history, I'm seeing that I've been getting about 3 seasons out of a set of Michelin pilot Super Sports but I only run them from April to November.
Last edited by sleuth255; 03-02-2022 at 12:16 PM.
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E39s are sensitive, but I put 155K on an E28 and I swear it would shimmy if you looked at it crosseyed. Roundness is important, but often I've just seen them measured at the center of the tread when the most important part regarding a shimmy is at the edges.
Michelins are a good tire liked by many even if not myself. The ones I've had just didn't work on my personal $$$/overall performance equation. Everyone's is different.
98 328is
02 525ita
80 528i
81 528ia
and decades of owning and driving BMWs
Member
All seasons are NOT crap, they are good for mild summer and mild winter like in Denmark. They are perfect for that. For hot summers, they are too soft, and for harsh winters are too hard. You have to know how to choose accordingly. If you live in an area that needs 2 seasons tires, they won't work.
In Denmark in the so-called summer, we have an average of 15°C and in winter °2C with almost no snow, so "all season" are simply perfect. I run on "all season" Khumo Solus.
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Best value? Best performance?
First - Tire technology has come a long way since 2003 and while the e39 handles great, modern tires are going to be designed to handle much more aggressive loads then you are going to see with these cars. So honestly pretty much any name brand that fits is going to be a good tire.
In the "no expense spared" category I like Continental and Michelin Pilot Sports (both AS as I live in WA state so need to be decent in rain). My M5 runs Pilot Sports.
However, my "go to" tire for most of my driver BMW's are the Cooper Zeon RS-3 AS. I have loved these tires for years and I consider them "bargain" Michelins. I love the look, they ride quiet, and they are more than up to a spirited drive.
1987 L6
1997 840ci
2000 740i Sport
2000 M Roadster
2001 M5
2002 540i Sport
2002 X5 4.6is
2003 530i Sport
2003 M3
2003 Z3 3.0
2005 X5 3.0 Sport
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